Framed as the notebook of Sen no Rikyū's disciple Hongakubō, this historical novel traces the question of why Rikyū was ordered to die by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Hongakubō visits people connected to his teacher and approaches both the mystery of Rikyū's death and the inner life of an artist who pursued wabi tea beside political power.

Through a disciple's notebook, the novel brings into view Rikyū's death and the solitude of an artist committed to his art in an age of upheaval.

Ruritan is a historical novel that follows the Yasuoka family from the late Edo period into the Meiji era through surviving diaries and letters. Centered on the lives of three Yasuoka brothers, it portrays family memory and the choices made by people living through an age of upheaval.

Through diaries and letters left by a Tosa family, the novel traces three brothers through the turmoil of the late Edo and Meiji Restoration eras.